Red Cross disaster relief continues in Sandy’s aftermath

It was a busy start to the week as nearly 11,000 people spent Monday night in 258 Red Cross shelters in 16 states, including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Indiana and Michigan.

In Eastern Massachusetts, volunteers staffed nine shelters Monday night at Durfee High School in Fall River, Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, Nauset High School, Newbury Elementary, Sandwich High School, Weymouth High School, Chilmark Community Center, Lynn Classical High School and Williams Intermediate School in Bridgewater. Staff and volunteers also took an emergency shelter operations course on Monday afternoon.

Volunteers served 386 meals in our shelters, while Dominos Pizza of Fall River donated dinner on Monday night. Still, the cost of this disaster operation continues to grow.

The next step will be getting cleanup kits out to residents who need them. Clean up kits cost about $23 each. Staff and volunteers began lining up items like shovels, brooms and cleaning supplies before the storm hit to quickly help communities hardest hit by the Sandy.

Please consider making a donation as we continue our relief efforts, or consider giving blood, as 18 blood drives were canceled in Massachusetts because of the weather on Monday. That means 690 units of blood were not collected and are considered lost. Or find out how to donate blood at redcrossblood.org.